About
Who Needs Feminism? is a single topic Tumblr and Facebook page dedicated to posting photos of people explaining why they need feminism, and why feminism is important to them.
Origin
The Tumblr[1] and Facebook page[2] were created in April of 2012 by 16 female students participating in a class at Duke University, entitled Women in the Public Sphere, as part of their final project.[3] The students went around campus asking their peers why they needed feminism, and would take pictures of them holding up a whiteboard with their explanation on it, all of them starting with the phrase “I need feminism because”.[4] They would print the photos as posters to be hung around campus, and then created a Facebook and Tumblr page to post them on.[4]
Spread
After a month, their Facebook page had received over 11,000 likes, and their Tumblr had received more than 80,000 visits from 144 countries.[4] The project also spread to other campuses, such as Iowa State University[12], University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill[13], and Ithica University[14]. It’s popularity was covered by several online news publications such as Buzzfeed[5], Good Magazine[6], and Mashable[7]. The project also won Good Magazine’s “GOOD Goes Viral” challenge for the best social media campaign of the year.[8] Later that year, the creators of the Facebook and Tumblr pages created a Twitter account[9] under the name “INeedFeminism”, as well as a separate website to continue their project through.[10]
Criticism
With it’s popularity, the project also received criticism from men’s rights activists and anti-feminists.[15] An opposing, anti-feminist website, WhoNeedsFeminism.org, was created in December of 2012.[11] Similar to the original site, it posts pictures of people holding their explanations, but instead they explain why they’re against feminism, and how feminism has negatively affected them.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Tumblr – Who Needs Feminism?
[2]Facebook – Who Needs Feminism?
[3]Who Needs Feminism? – Who Needs Feminism? – About
[4]WUNC 91.5 – North Carolina Public Radio – Who Needs Feminism?
[5]Buzzfeed – Who Needs Feminism?
[6]Good Magazine – Redefining the F-Bomb: Who Needs Feminism?
[7]Mashable – ‘Who Needs Feminism?’ New Tumblr Promotes Gender Equality
[8]Good Magazine – GOOD Goes Viral: What’s Your Favorite Social Media Campaign?
[9]Twitter – INeedFeminism
[10]Who Needs Feminism? – Who Needs Feminism? – Home
[11]Who Needs Feminism – Who Needs Feminism – About
[12]Iowa State Daily – ’Who Needs Feminism campaign comes to ISU
[13]Safe@UNC – Who Needs Feminism campaign
[14]The Ithican – Commentary: Who needs feminism campaign comes to campus
[15]The Chronicle – Feminism campaign sparks widespread dialogue, backlash